The Crying Man
by Coutelier
Summary: A Baldur's Gate Halloween special.  Imoen and her friends encounter a village that seems to be inhabited only by children, and mysterious person they call The Crying Man.


**The Crying Man**

The wind howled through the rustling leaves under the moon's silver-blue glow. The owls all huddled in their nests while the other animals burrowed deeper. Those who had no shelter fled the oncoming storm so that not a creature stirred in the open, apart from four women and a girl.

"There should be a village close by!" Nalia called out, fighting against the gale.

"Are you sure?" Skie shouted doubtfully. "It wasn't on the map…"

"We're sure. Aerie saw it from up there on the hill," the noblewoman shouted back and the elf nodded. No one else had seen it from way up there, but they all silently acknowledged that one of the few advantages a wingless avariel still had on the ground was the best eyesight of just about any living creature on two legs.

Imoen huddled close to the others. "Can't we just camp out in a cave or by a cliff or something…"

"Why?" Nalia asked, confused. "We could have a warm bed, and maybe a bath…"

"I just don't have much luck with villages. Every one I've been to, the locals have ended up trying to kill me, or eat me, or sacrifice me to some many tentacled monster…"

"Oh Imoen, stop being silly. Come on."

"All right, but if we end up in someone's stew, just remember I warned you…"

The four women went on ahead while the youngest, Tenya, just a few years from being a woman herself, trudged behind grumpily. "Cannot take these morons anywhere," she muttered.

* * *

><p>The wind seemed to suddenly die down as they entered the village. It was fairly typical; just a single small street with buildings clustered, including a general store and a church most probably dedicated to Chauntea, the grain goddess. There were cries and laughter as children ran about, throwing projectiles made of mud and splashing in puddles from the rain earlier. It was somewhat strange that they would all be up this late. The group of adventurers slowly made their way up the street, peering in through windows when they could, while about a dozen tiny puffy little faces turned and began to scrutinise them.<p>

Nalia turned to the others. "Do any of you notice something strange about this place?"

Imoen shrugged. "You mean, like the fact we haven't seen a single grown up?"

"Er, yes…"

"Nope. Not a thing."

By now, most of the children had stopped playing and had gathered under the awning of the general store. They were of course peasants, wearing simple brown clothes, the girls with whitish aprons and ranging in ages from toddlers to probably about the same age as Tenya, about thirteen or fourteen. Imoen didn't think any of them could be more than fifteen. The way they were looking, like they'd never seen a redhead before… but then, maybe they hadn't. This place seemed pretty isolated and was well away from any of the roads most travellers used.

"At least they probably won't eat you," Nalia said.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna relax too much just yet," Imoen looked away from the children around the village, until she found a sign. "Let's try the tavern."

Of course, that was always the first port of call whenever you arrived in a place. Not just for watered down ale, but for information about the area, other villages, roads, any bandits or monsters seen lately. And of course it was the main gathering place for locals to socialise in, so if there were no grown-ups in there, then… there weren't. An uneasy silence fell on them as they each pondered what could have happened and what their next move should be, until finally Imoen suggested an answer.

"Drinks?" She asked. They all nodded.

Imoen was quite at home behind a bar; she'd filled in for Puffguts a few times at their Inn in Candlekeep. She missed that place, even the quite nasty brawls the monks and wizards got into sometimes. She remembered one in particular about the use of the semi-colon; lot of cleaning up to do after that one. Anyway, she found four tankards and poured four ales. Everything in here seemed pretty clean and well kept, so wherever the adults had gone they can't have been gone long, it seemed.

Each of her companions took their drink. Imoen was so lost reliving her memories of Candlekeep that she forgot for a moment that she'd poured one for herself, and managed to slap Tenya's hand away just before the priestess had gotten hold of the last tankard.

"Not you," the redhead chided. "There's some grape juice back here I think; you can have that."

"Don't see why you drink that stuff anyway," the teenager huffed, folding her arms, "doesn't taste good."

"Just another one of those mysteries you'll have to find out about when you're older."

"… stupid …"

"This is Campylon land, I think," Nalia said as she sipped from her cup.

"So?"

"So, if something has happened here, if all the adults have… disappeared, then the Lord will have to be informed. And of course those children have to be taken care of."

"What will happen to them?" Aerie asked.

"There are orphanages. It's… not ideal, but I think it's probably better than them having to fend for themselves."

Imoen shook her head. "Let's try to find out exactly what's happened to their parents first."

The redhead peered across the tavern, and the others turned around following her gaze. The children were gathered just outside the door, peering in. At first, none of them came inside. Like to them, this was the adult's place, and they'd always been told to keep and that held in them even when the adults were gone. But the sight of Tenya sat by the bar seemed to be encouraging a few of them who took a couple of tentative steps across the threshold.

Skie, who was nearest to the door, stood up. "Hello?" She said. They all stared blankly and perhaps a tiny bit fearfully at her. "Um… my name is Skie. Skie Silvershield. I'm from… north of here. Do you understand north?" More blank looks. Skie had run out of small talk, so she just got to the point. "Can you tell me where your parents?" She asked, stepping forward. The children gasped suddenly, and ran away.

"I guess they don't speak to strangers," the girl from the north shrugged timidly.

"Well, very well done indeed," Nalia rolled her eyes.

"At least I tried to communicate with them."

"Of course. That's what we'll put on your tombstone; 'At least she tried.'"

"Nalia!" Aerie's eyes flared up angrily, as did Skie's, of course.

"I'm sorry," the noblewoman sighed, hanging her head. "I'm just tired. It's been a very long trip."

"Everyone's tired," Imoen informed her, "but now's not the time to start bickering." The redhead then smiled to herself. "Hmm, look at me being all leader like… feels pretty good, actually. Erm, anyhow," she coughed. She remember how it was Tenya's presence that had encouraged some of the other children to step inside. Poor sods must have mistakenly believed she was somehow like them…

"Hey, Ten," the redhead leant over the dark haired teenager wearing a big warm, friendly smile. "I know this is a big ask, but, do you think you could act like a normal girl for a little while?"

"Why?" The priestess snapped.

"Well, because you're not as old as the rest of us and so maybe the kids will speak to you."

"I don't want to speak to them!" The girl spat. "Have you ever tried speaking to children? They're idiots. They don't know anything about anything, and they laugh at dumb things, like… farts and bottoms."

"As opposed to the finely crafted witticisms you always come out with?"

"I'm not doing it."

"Ten, you do this for me then in the next we come to, I'll buy you a toffee apple."

"No," the girl shook her head.

"And a humbug?"

"No," she shook more adamantly.

"And some sherbet?"

"Oh… alright, fine."

When she was out the door, Skie asked, "Are you sure this is a good idea? We should be trying to earn their trust, after all, and sending her…" Imoen could only shrug and hope things somehow worked out for the best.

* * *

><p>Tenya stomped grumpily into the muddy street, checking back and forth for any sign of those brats. Naturally, they won't have gone far and she was determined to get this over with as quickly as possible. She hated children. Even more than she hated adults, although it was close run thing.<p>

"You! Tiny person!" She commanded, catching sight of one of them and totally ignoring Imoen's advice to act normal. Well, this was normal for her. "Stand still and answer my questions!"

The children whispered amongst themselves, and then having reached an agreement they all scattered, laughing and giggling annoyingly. Tenya sighed; she had no interest in playing their games. And so she reached out, channelling the power of her goddess, and commanded them to be still. About three of the children froze like statues, one of them in mid stride and so they fell forwards splashing into a puddle. The priestess shrugged and marched towards them, circling around one, a small girl about half her age, allowing this one the use of her face.

"Where are your earth mothers and fathers?" The priestess demanded. "Answer me now!"

The poor girl was panic stricken. She clearly wanted to run, but didn't understand why she couldn't, her wide eyes bright with fear as they darted back and forth. "I-I-I… I can't move!"

"Never mind about that. Where are your parents?"

"B-but… I-I can't move!"

Tenya took a deep breath, telling herself she would have to be patient. Children were imbeciles, after all. "Fine," she sighed, "but, if you attempt to flee, I will find your house and set fire to it and all your toys. And then I will hunt down all your friends, and then you, and gut you all like squirrels. I hate squirrels. Understand?" The girl didn't, but nodded anyway. Tenya waved her hands, releasing the girl from the spell, but did it so suddenly that the girl didn't have time to adjust and fell over backwards. She sat up, screwing up her face and her little chest heaving as tears started streaming down her cheeks.

"What are you doing?" The priestess asked. "Why are you making that disagreeable noise?"

"You… you're mean!" The girl cried.

"Obviously. But I did release you, didn't I? Now you should be answering my questions."

"I'm going to get my brother onto you!"

"Will he answer my questions?" Tenya said, disregarding the thinly veiled threat. "Just tell me where the adults are."

"They went away, okay?"

The priestess seemed to soften slightly, wondering if the girl meant 'went away' in the same way her earth mother had gone away, at least at first. Before she'd accepted that she was just dead. "I… where did they go?"

"Into the light," the girl shrugged, "we wanted to go after them, but the crying man won't let us leave."

"Who's the crying man?"

"He's bad," the little girl drew her knees in close to her chest, "I-I don't wanna talk about him."

"But…"

Of all the flaws in Tenya's personality, lacking confidence never seemed to be one of them. Although perhaps she should have been paying a little more to her surroundings and the positions of the other children as she spoke; she hadn't considered them any possible threat to her. She didn't see the boy, or his fist, until it impacted on the side of her head and then it was her turn to fall backwards into the mud.

"You leave my sister alone!" He spat out angrily.

Tenya was quite dazzled. Whoever he was, he was quite strong, maybe even stronger than her. Physically, anyway, but that didn't matter; as soon as the priestess had put herself back together she was certainly going to make him pay for this insult. She looked up; he was about the same age as her, and seemed to be the oldest out of the entire group. Still growing, with broadening shoulders; it was obvious his hitting power was only going to increase tenfold in the next few years.

"You like picking on kids half your size?" The boy stood proudly, hands on hips while his sister got up and scampered behind him.

"No!" Tenya was genuinely quite outraged by the thought. She herself had had to defend herself many times from people much bigger than her, so why shouldn't even littler people be able to defend themselves from people her size? There really had been no bullying going on; just a bit of culture shock. "I just wanted to ask some questions, but you all ran away."

"What questions?" The boy asked. Tenya got up, brushing herself and then extending herself to her full height so she could look the boy in the chin.

"Where did all the adults go?" She asked. "The little person muttered something about them going into some light?"

"Aye," the boy nodded, "they all followed the light and went away. Left us."

"All of them?"

"All of them," he nodded. Tenya thought for a moment. She'd asked some questions, but she just ended up having more. What was this light they were talking about? Who was the crying man? Went away?

"Are they dead?" She asked, hoping for some kind of finality on that. The boys younger sister started to sniff a few times, couldn't fight it, and then was bawling again. "Why is she doing that again?" The priestess asked frustratedly. The boy shot a glance her way, screwing his face like he couldn't believe what she'd just asked.

"You're upsetting her by saying her mom and dad are dead," he chided, "are you bloody stupid or something?"

Tenya's jaw hung open, like she'd just been slapped really hard in the face. "N-no!" She said, turning red. It was pretty obvious, when you thought about it, but just because she hadn't didn't mean that she was… "You are the ones who are foolish! Running away and hiding? Don't you want anyone to help you?"

"We ain't hiding. But we don't want anyone's help either. You and those women with you will all die if you stay here."

"Because of this crying man, I suppose?"

"And the shadows that walk with him. They've killed all the others who passed through here."

There were shadows now? And another question, "how have you survived, then?"

"Shadows don't attack us," the boy hunched his shoulders. "Don't know why; it's like they can't see us. But anyone else…"

Tenya snorted. "You know, those people with me are an elven witch and two powerful mages. And Skie. Anyway, they've fought shadows before, and they won, believe it or not."

"Yeah?" The boy tilted his head, his face softening toward her now. "What about you?"

"I am Tenya Thermidor," she announced proudly, "priestess of Umberlee. I eat shadows for breakfast… which is probably not a very healthy diet, now that I think about it. And don't think I've forgotten that you punched me either!" She glared, and took a breath. "But, in the circumstances I will let it pass. I am sure you just did not know what you were doing."

"You… ain't right," the boy shook his head, starting to grin. "But… I like you," he said. Tenya stood still, looking at him for a moment. She felt something… a warmth rising in her chest which she couldn't explain. She didn't know it, but she was blushing. She hadn't noticed how brown his eyes up until now, and had no idea why that suddenly seemed important. "Shame you're gonna die," he said and waved. "See ya."

That… that hurt. That hurt worse than when he punched her. The other children all gathered around and laughing… how dare they! The boy had his back to her now, walking away…

"You come back here, you!" She huffed and puffed angrily. "I'll have you! I'll slice off your head and chop up your brain and feed it to sea snails! And then I'll make your bones into a basket and use it to carry rotten cabbages around! I don't know why I'd want them, but you'll be thoroughly desecrated, I promise that!"

The boy halted and looked up. Not at her; he was pointedly ignoring her. Another child was jumping and hopping down the street, flapping his arms. "He's coming!" The little one cried.

The eldest turned back round and looked at Tenya. Before she had a chance to react, he bounded over and took her firmly by the arm.

"What are you…!" She began to protest, trying to pull herself away but he was far too strong.

"They'll kill you if they find you!" He shouted into her face. "You wanna live, you come with me. And for heaven's sake, shut up," he explained, already dragging her along.

Tenya didn't really try to resist much more. She was too confused by what was happening, and in particular why he would want to save her. It was not unpleasant, having her life saved, although she didn't think she really needed it.

"What about Imoen and the others?" She asked.

"Grown-ups can take care of themselves, can't they?" He said. Tenya wasn't sure about these particular grown-ups, but the fact they were still alive and so many of their enemies weren't suggested that maybe they could.

One of the buildings in the village had its ground floor raised above the ground on little wooden posts or stilts; there was just enough room beneath for Tenya to squeeze in. The boy, and a few of the other children, squeezed next to her. She felt like a pilchard. Everyone went quiet. All those times she'd heard adults complain about children making too much; to think, all they needed was a shadowy monster to shut them up. Although, if what the boy had said earlier was true, then it was only Tenya who was in any real danger here; the others were all hiding out of instinct. But from what, exactly?

She couldn't see much from where she was. She could a wagon wheel, and some of the doors across the road, all grey and still. She suddenly yelped as a foot came down inches away from her face, but the boy covered her mouth with his hand, hushing her. It was a bare foot, and even stood in front of her she could still see the other side of the road, although it was a much darker grey now. Shadows; she had encountered such creatures before. She still didn't like them. Other monsters you could think were really just like any other animal, but these things were just so unnatural, like ghosts. Only they could actually hurt you. Only magic weapons could harm them, and fortunately Tenya's staff was enchanted. She could probably take this one easily enough. But then there was another. And another. A dozen at least that she counted, making their way down the street, scanning it with their beady red eyes. She saw one jump through a window, and then slither out again. It was like they were looking for something. It couldn't be her, could it?

But then she saw something which was even more curious. An old man with long dirty hair and dressed in old grey rags who seemed to be feeling his way along the wall across from her. The shadows were ignoring him. He acted like he was blind, but when he turned about she saw that he wasn't. Not exactly. He didn't have any eyes at all. He didn't seem to be in any physical pain either, and yet blood seeped out of his empty sockets, streaming in long rivers down his face. The crying man.

Tenya became enthralled by him. What was he? Was he alive? A ghost? Demon? Some kind of zombie? She'd never seen anything like it. She forgot about the shadows, which was a coincidence because they had only just noticed her.

She yelped, and this time nothing could stop the sound. There wasn't much point, anyway. A pair of beady red eyes were close to the ground drilling right into her. Most of the other children scattered, the shadows ignoring them and staying focused on Ten, who furiously tried to crawl backwards as a shady arm started to slash at her. She was quick enough to get just out of its reach, but then its long narrow body started to crawl in after her.

Deep breaths… she tried not to panic. The best weapon against a shadow of course was light; they hated that. She reached around the neck of her tunic, and managed to get one finger around a thin chain there and then pry out her holy symbol. Holding it up, she prayed to her goddess, pleading to let there be light. Umberlee answered with a beam as bright as the sun. The shadow exploded into ash as it was struck.

Tenya's relief was short lived however; these creatures had no emotion. No fear. It was no time at all before another shadow started to crawl in after the first. And then another. The girl whipped her head back and forth, realising that they were all around her, closing in.

"Well, this was a brilliant hiding place!" She spat to the boy, who had remained next to her even though he probably could have ran. "Thanks a freaking bunch, dumdum!" Even as she berated him though, she realised that it probably wasn't going to do her much good.

She had to find a way out, but every exit she could see was cut off. She looked up at the planks above her head. But, even if she summoned strength from her goddess, she doubted she could get the leverage to make much of a hole. She had another idea; she held the symbol up again and prayed just like before, and the beam shot out, this time straight upwards. Although she suffered a few splinters, the hole it left was just big enough for her squeeze through. She then reached back down and picked up her staff. It wouldn't be long before even those things figured out where she went.

She was in a pantry, with jars of dried vegetables and linen. Nothing that could help her right now. It wasn't long before she heard a loud banging at the front door and windows being smashed, while the first of them was starting to pull itself up through the hole. She wondered if she should find another place to hide and just wait until dawn; shadows didn't usually hang around once the sun was up. But she didn't want to be trapped in here as well, did she? There was no time to really go over the options thoroughly. She decided to just make a break for it, out the back door. Hopefully she would find Imoen and the others; she would never tell them this of course, but she would feel a lot safer if she was with them.

She ran along the backs of all the houses, a few tears appearing on her cheeks and she realised with great distress that she had no idea where she was going. She couldn't remember where the tavern was. Why hadn't she paid more attention? There had a clue around… a sign… anything…

The air around her exploded. She fell face first into the mud. For an instant it had seemed like the sun had come out, but then just as suddenly it vanished. That must have been one of them, which meant the shadows had found them. But, on the basis of that blast, it seemed like they stood a good chance. But they must have been on the other side of the village, and with all the creatures suddenly all around her, they might as well have been on the moon.

"Fine!" She gritted her teeth as she stood back, holding her staff up ready to swing. "You know what you are like? You're like badly drawn people. I'll rub you out!" She said with a confidence she didn't feel. Ideally, they would take it turns leaping at her and she would be able to beat them off one by one. Tenya realised that wasn't going to happen and they were all going to jump at her at once, so she might swing and hit one, but then the others would all get her. She silently muttered some more prayers, which were answered, although not entirely in the way she was expecting.

The first couple rows of creatures burst into ash as they were touched by another sun beam. It wasn't Tenya's. Surprised, she looked round. It was Aerie, holding up her little raccoon symbol. Tenya didn't know why the elf had chosen to pray to a gnomish deity and his raccoon familiar; she suspected it was mainly because of the stupid raccoon. Baervar Wildwanderer and Chiktikka Fastpaws were famous for their mischief too, so perhaps that at least explained why Aerie liked Imoen so much, although it really didn't matter much right now. The elf motioned for the young priestess to stand behind her shield, which she did gladly. Shortly after, the shadows leapt at them.

Tenya knew better than to underestimate Aerie in a fight. The blonde elf wasn't really much taller than Tenya, and was probably the least powerful of her companions physically. But the adrenalin she experienced in battle seemed to help focus everything in the blonde's scattered brain onto the fight. In fact, if her current companions somehow got into some massive brawl, Tenya would bet on Aerie and likely win a fortune, since people who didn't know better would take one look at the shy, timid elf and bet against her, not realising how determinedly and aggressively she fought. At least, Tenya would do that were it not for the fact that Imoen had some kind of hold over the elf which meant that she would always come out on top. But the shadows had no such hold.

Aerie slashed at them with her glass sword whenever they got close, flung sun beams and orbs of fire when they weren't. Tenya joined in when she could, until finally the air was thick and heavy with the ashes of the creatures. The elf's shoulders sagged, feeling the weight of her weapons just as the last of the creatures seemed to be withdrawing. It was doubtful they would give up, though.

"A-are you okay?" The elf asked, panting.

"Of course I am," the girl insisted, "I was never in any real danger there. You just helped me take care of those things faster, is all."

"Rub… rub them out?" Aerie paraphrased Tenya's words with a soft smile.

"It was spontaneous, okay?"

* * *

><p>Imoen wasn't sure if sending Aerie off to find Tenya was the right thing to do. They could really have used her here. The street was thick with shadows coming in from around, crawling over each other to try and get to the adventurers. But then, Tenya might be on her own, lying unconscious somewhere in need of healing. For all her bluster, she was still a kid, and really wasn't as good at taking care of herself as she tried to make out.<p>

She and Nalia concentrated their spells on the centre of the seething mass before them, trying to create a channel. The redhead had deduced quite quickly that the blind man she saw… or rather, the man with no eyes… was somehow at the heart of all this since the creatures seemed to be swarming around him. Once she saw a wide enough opening, she turned to Skie. "Now!" She shouted.

The northern girl, the disowned daughter of Baldur's Gate's Dukes, drew her sword and ran for the gap. And kept running, jumping over some of the creatures who turned and tried to grab at her. The air around her sizzled as orbs of energy whizzed by, the two mages trying to keep the path clear for as long as possible. Finally she rolled forwards, slashing at the legs of the old man. He grimaced and slowly staggered around. There was no way he could see her, of course. Perhaps he could smell her or hear or feel her presence in some other way. He did seem to sniff a few times, trying to find her.

Skie stood before him, unsure what to do next. Despite his unearthly countenance, she realised the man was carrying no weapons. He showed no sign of casting any spells. Could he really be what was controlling all this? Could she just cut him down like this? Behind her, she heard more blasts. Her friends couldn't hold those creatures off much longer… she had to do something. And so, with a grunt, she lunged forward, plunging her blade into the man's chest. He staggered back, a pained look on his face. But he didn't fall. He felt around for the edge of the blade, and then pulled it out and let it clatter to the ground as he clutched the wound. Skie now had no weapon with which to defend herself.

The man snarled and hissed, snapping his rotten teeth in her general direction a few times before finally he turned and started to stagger away still clutching the wound. Soon the shadows started to follow him, back out into the woods. The noblewoman fell to her knees and let herself breathe. It had worked; they hadn't stopped the shadows, but clearly he needed to recover before he returned. They had some time to prepare now, at least. Or to flee. Knowing Imoen though, she was going to make them all choose the former option.

"They'll be back," Skie heard someone say. She looked up, and saw a boy about Tenya's age surrounded by all the other children they had seen earlier. "They always come here three times, every night."

"Great," Imoen said, just the smallest amount of sarcasm in her voice. Skie realised that they must have used up quite a lot of their spell components in that battle. "I like an habitual bad guy."

At least the children were talking to them now, and Tenya and Aerie had returned unharmed. They had all gathered back inside the tavern. Imoen being a responsible adult of course, wouldn't server the kids any alcohol no matter how much they tried to wear her down. Besides, she wanted their heads as clear as possible to answer her questions.

"You said there was a light?" She prompted. Sat across a table in the corner of the room was the eldest boy, Eric. He hunched and shifted in his seat uneasily.

"One night there was a bright light. All the adults got up out of their beds and they just… just walked, right into it and they disappeared," he explained, "some of us tried to go after them, but we got pushed back."

"And that's all you remember?" Imoen sighed frustratedly; it really wasn't a whole lot to go on.

"It… it was the night after old man brown dropped dead."

"Old man brown?"

"He was just an old man who lived out in the woods. Real queer fella'; had these weird milky eyes and he was always talking and scratching himself. Some people said he used to be a warlock or something. But now… now we call him the crying man."

"Now we might be finally getting somewhere," Imoen muttered. "What did you mean when you said he dropped dead?"

"I don't know what happened!" The boy insisted, but went on, "he came into the village one day and started arguing with the mayor. Then, we he turned to leave, he got this look on his face like someone had punched him real hard and he started holding his chest. And… then he fell over and died."

"I-it sounds like he had a heart attack," Aerie suggested.

"Right. Whatever. I don't know about that stuff."

"I… I-I think," one of the girls who was around ten started to speak, but then all the others glanced at her and she lowered her head and said nothing. Imoen looked to her left, and on queue Aerie went and knelt in front of the girl who had started, taking her gently by the hand.

"Don't be afraid," the elf said softly, "if you have something you want to say, then say it. No one here will hurt you for it."

"I… I think," the girl started, and this time Aerie's calm gaze and soothing voice seemed to help her feel at ease. "I think it was because we made fun of him. We were calling him names… w-we always called him names because he smelled funny and he lived by himself and he collected dolls. We were making fun of him and he was shouting at us to stop… a-and that was when he… when he had that heart attack thing."

"Don't be daft!" Eric spat out. "You can't kill a man just by calling him names? What do they always say? Sticks and stones?"

"That's true, usually," Imoen sighed sadly, "but sometimes, when a person is vulnerable, a name can hurt them a lot more than a stick can." Aerie nodded, and the children all went silent, bowing their heads. Imoen knew there was no way these kids could really understand all that. It came as a surprise to her that she even understood it.

"He… was an old man," Aerie said, trying to reassure the girl she was with, and anyone else listening. "His heart was weak. Y-you weren't to know."

Tenya pointed a finger at Eric's sister. "That one said the crying man wouldn't let you leave."

"We don't really know for sure," he shrugged, "but we know if we go too far from the village, we just sort of go dizzy and pass out, and then wake up again here. And the crying man appeared just after it all happened, so we reckoned it must be him."

"No prizes for guessing that, I'm afraid," Imoen said pensively. "But how? Why?" She knew this crying man had a reason to want to punish these children, but when he came into the village neither he nor his shadows seemed very interested in them at all. And how had he come back from the dead? And she had idea why all the adults had upped and left, or to where, although she was beginning to form a few suspicions. Well, it was obvious what the next needed to be. "You said old man brown lived in the woods?" Eric nodded. "Can you take us there?"

"I guess. It's not that far."

"We need to stock up on supplies first," Nalia pointed out. So was right; it was quite likely they would be attacked if they went to the crying man's home, although it seemed like the best way to get to the bottom of all this. "I'll go to the general store. They might have some things we can use as components for spells, and maybe some other useful stuff."

"Alright," Imoen nodded. She was right; it quite likely they would be attacked again, and so could do with all the resources they could muster. "Just remember to get what we need; don't get distracted by shoes or hats or little wooden carvings of your name again."

Aerie was smiling to herself, watching Nalia go out the door, when she felt a tugging on her tunic. She knelt down again, so she was level with the faces of the children all gathered round her.

"You're an elf!" One of them declared.

"Yes," she nodded, grinning. "The… the ears, usually, give that away." A few reached out to touch them. Aerie allowed it, even though an elf's ears were known to be quite sensitive.

"Do you want to play with us?" They asked, after seeming satisfied that the ears were real.

"I… I-I'm sorry. I don't know if I have time."

"Hey," Imoen called out. "Nalia will probably be a little while. You go and have fun, kiddo!" Aerie, although still smiling, managed to send a subliminal message to Imoen which read 'I will kill you for this'. Imoen didn't care.

"Aerie's pretty good with children, isn't she?" Skie commented as they watched the elf playing tag.

"I guess," the redhead shrugged. "She probably got used to them in the circus."

"I always wondered why she got on well with you. I guess now I know."

* * *

><p>"It's fun I guess, sometimes," it was a little while later, and Aerie had gotten the children to settle down a bit. "But…"<p>

"You miss your parents?" Aerie said.

"Yeah… but, they're fine, right? Eric says they are," one of the smaller boys said. Eric was still hunched by the table, listening intently to their conversation.

"They must miss you."

"But they were always telling us off and saying not to do things, or go places."

"That's… that's what they do," the elf sighed sadly, "they… t-they just want you to be safe."

"Were your parents like that?"

"Heh… yes! I was always getting into trouble because I would fly," she paused, realising she really couldn't get into her being an avariel or what that was right now. "I-I would always go places I shouldn't."

"But you can do what you want now, right?"

"I've… more freedom than I used to. My parents are far away, but… I-I still miss them, sometimes. Especially when I'm hurt or scared."

"You get scared?" The children gasped. Somehow, in their little minds, Aerie had become some towering, unflappable, nigh on indestructible heroic figure. Kids.

"E-everyone gets scared," Aerie laughed, "Jaheira said that even she got scared, once. Your parents are probably scared as well… n-not knowing if you're okay or not."

"You're gonna bring them back, aren't you Aerie?"

"I… I-I don't know," the elf admitted sadly, "but, I-I'm going to try my best so you can be with them again."

Tenya was sat by herself in a corner watching this… heart warming scene. She thought she was going to vomit. But then Eric came and sat down next to her.

"Hello, Ten," he said a little nervously.

"Hm," she huffed and folded her arms. "What do you want, dummy?"

"I… I-I was just thinking…"

"Good for you."

"I was thinking…"

"Well?" She sighed; clearly she had been too subtle. "What were you thinking, then? Out with it you cretinous oaf."

"I was thinking… you… you'd be quite pretty, if you weren't angry all the time."

"That is the dumbest thing I have ever…" she began. Then she actually listened to what he'd said, and turned red. "Wha…?" She blinked.

"See, what I'm saying, moron, is… you ain't right. In the head. Ain't right at all. But… I like you."

"I… see," she blinked again. That really was the dumbest thing she had ever heard… but she didn't know what to do about it. Suddenly all her anger seemed to have drained out of her. She saw Nalia come in through the door and actually felt like getting up and offering to help. She didn't, because this was all just too weird.

"Can… can I, um… can I kiss you?"

"Okay," she said, without even thinking about it.

"Just on the cheek, I mean! I know you'll probably just get all mad because I asked."

"I said okay," she snapped, "I will allow it. Just this once."

"Oh… oh, okay… um," he leant over, very awkwardly and very gently, and very quickly, he pecked her on the cheek. That wasn't as bad as either of them thought. Although, the audience didn't seem to think so.

"Ewwww!" The children said, all gathered round with screwed up, disgusted looks on their faces. "A boy kissed a girl! That's so queer."

To add to Tenya's embarrassment, Imoen's annoying grinning gerbil face thrust itself forwards between the seats she and Eric were sat in, and helped itself to one of their cookies.

"I agree with the other munchkins," she said, "well, maybe not the queer part. But that's quite enough of this puppy love nonsense. Let's get going."

As the party left, Aerie felt a tug on her tunic again. She looked down into one of the little girls smiling up at her.

"Here," the girl said, holding something up for her to take. A necklace. "It's my lucky necklace. So you don't get scared."

Aerie took it, and looked at it. It was differently coloured wooden blocks wrapped around a string. Judging by the very poor quality, the little girl might have made it herself. But that didn't matter to Aerie. She smiled. "Thank you."

Once they were outside, Imoen turned to her and said, "you really are the nicest person in the whole world, aintcha?" There was a slightly mocking tone to her voice.

"What?" The elf shrugged. "They're children. What do you want me to do? Beat them with a stick?"

"Well, it never did me any harm. I was always getting caned for pranks or pinching stuff."

"Right," the elf arched an eyebrow, "well they sure beat that out of you… oh!"

"What?"

"Y-you just trod in some… i-in some pooh," Aerie pointed out. Imoen lifted her boot and looked a bit disgustedly at the muck. "Here," the elf said, pulling out one of her handkerchiefs, "l-let me clean it up for you…"

* * *

><p>As Eric had said, it wasn't far to the cabin. The group of them knelt in the undergrowth for several minutes, watching it from the treeline. No lights inside. No sign of any movement. It was all disturbingly still. Imoen did not like it or trust it.<p>

"Eric, Ten… you two stay here," she said, "the rest of you," she lifted a finger and let it drop towards the cabin. "Oh, and… don't do anything I wouldn't do," she said as an aside to the young teenagers.

"Okay," Tenya shrugged, "I won't get a job or wash between my toes."

"Good."

They went in. There wasn't much to see. A few little bits of furniture, a fireplace filled with cold ashes. No shadows. Not living shadows, anyway. It didn't look there was really anything special about this old man. There were no books of any kind, no devices. Nothing, apart from in one room where there was a large collection of dolls. The children had mentioned he had collected them, and her they were, all different colours and shapes. Some wood, some clay, all with rosy cheeked little faces painted on them. They were arranged on a stepped pyramid made out of boxes, each one with its own little place to sit in. But the one at the very top… that was missing.

"Down here!" Imoen heard Skie call out. She left the dolls. The others had found the door to a cellar. This was more like it; runes and pentagrams and a big glowing stone the colour of blood.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Don't ask me," Nalia shrugged, "I've never seen or read about a set up quite like this before." Neither had Imoen. It seemed to definitely be necromantic in nature; there were skulls, so that was usually a good indicator of that. But what it was for exactly… Aerie was knelt down, trying to piece it all together.

"I-I don't think he knew what he was doing," the elf said at last. "It's… a-a bit like a Moonblade, I think. I think he was trying to capture his own soul in this rock when he died."

"Why would you want to do that?" The redhead asked.

"Maybe he never respected any of the gods and didn't want to end up in the wall of the faithless," Skie shrugged. Imoen supposed the reason why didn't matter too much at this point.

"I think he wanted to just live out eternity in his own imagination," Aerie said, looking over the runes. "But, I don't think it would have worked… well, w-we know it didn't, obviously. He's got it all wrong, here… i-instead of trapping his soul when he died, i-it just sucked the life out of everything near to him. Most likely, the entire village…" silence fell over them as they all considered what that meant. Magic like that was not discriminatory in any way. "The… the rest is just too chaotic to make any sense of."

Imoen knelt down, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder. "We can't reverse any of it from here, can we?"

"No," Aerie shook her head, "it's done."

She had a fair idea of what had transpired here, now. This man, an outsider, set all this up, maybe because he knew he was sick. But it went wrong, like Aerie said. When he died, they all died… but why were the children who had taunted him still here? Why was he still here? They'd said he'd argued with the mayor… maybe, somehow, his final thoughts seeped into the magic as it did it's work. But there was a vital piece that was still missing…

* * *

><p>Outside, Tenya was growing impatient, as she often did. But it was worse this time because there was that boy. Their eyes kept drifting around to each other, and then snapping away when they thought the other one might be looking. It was all very… awkward.<p>

"Heh," Eric broke the silence at last, "you know, I used to come here a lot."

"I thought you hated the old man," Tenya said.

"We didn't hate him. He was just a bit… strange, is all. We used to dare each other to go into his house. I was the only one who ever did though."

"Really. How interesting," she yawned.

"What? You don't believe me?"

"I don't really care…"

"Come here. I'll prove it to you."

"Ohh… fine," she said, bored. She reluctantly followed him a short distance into the woods. There was a hollowed out tree trunk that Eric reached inside, and pulled out a doll. A nice doll, with a red dress and rosy cheeks. But just a doll.

"This was one of his!" Eric announced proudly, handing it to her. "I took from his place. He had loads of them. It's yours now, if you want it."

"Great," she sighed, "that's just… great…" and then she remembered, when she'd first seen the shadows in the village she'd thought they were looking for something. The crying man, when he had simply been old man brown, collected dolls. "When did you pilfer this?" She asked.

Eric looked down at his feet, starting to dig his toe into the dirt. "It… it was the night before…"

"The night before this all started?"

"Yeah. I guess," he shrugged like it wasn't important. When a spirit couldn't move on, it was often because they had left unfinished business. Or maybe they had lost something, and if they couldn't find it they might spend eternity searching. The old man must have suspected the children who had always tormented him had stolen his property… that was what he'd argued with the mayor about, and that was why they were all still trapped here.

"Yoouu eidiot!" She howled, throwing the doll in Eric's face and punching him. "This is what he is looking for, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about?" He asked, nursing his swollen jaw.

"You not take things that don't belong to you. Unless you return it where it belongs, he will never stop punishing you. Believe me, I know."

He leant over, picking the doll up from the ground, holding it in two hands. "B-but," he stuttered, his eyes widening fearfully.

"But what? You want the crying man to go away, don't you? Then it is quite simple what you have to do."

"But, if I do Ten, then, we'll have to go away. Do you understand? We'll disappear like all the grown-ups did. And then I… I won't see you anymore…"

"What the hell are you babbling about?"

"You won't disappear, Eric," Aerie said, she and the others stepping out around the trees. "You'll just move on to another place." The boy looked up at her, tears staining his cheeks.

"But," he sniffed, "I… I don't wanna go… I wanna stay here…" his voice trembled.

"I know. But what about the little ones? They want to see their moms and dads. They look up to you… trust you to help them. What about your sister? Do you really want to make her stay here, like this? Forever?"

"But can't I wait just a little longer?"

"Why'd you show her the doll?" Imoen sighed. "You know that's hardly likely to impress, don't you?"

"No, I… I guess not."

"I think you know deep down what you really have to do."

"Well, whatever you do," Skie said, drawing. Little red pin pricks of light were starting to appear in the woods around them, and up in the trees themselves. "You'd better do it fast." The crying man appeared, lumbering slowly towards them.

"Yeah… we really need a decision here, kiddo."

The boy looked down at the lifeless doll, at Tenya, all confused, the others all preparing themselves for battle. At any second, the shadows would strike at them. He looked at the priestess again.

"I'm sorry, Ten," he said with a strange smile, "I really did like you. But that's why I have to go."

"What are you…?" She asked, but he had already brushed past her.

"Mister Brown!" He called out. Everything in the woods froze suddenly, apart from the boy who hurried forward towards the crying man. He then lowered his head, and held his arms out in front of him. "I'm… I'm sorry. I'm really, really, sorry, Mister Brown, for everything we did. Please forgive us."

The crying man's face twitched. He reached out, until he found the boys hands and finally, his doll. Eric released it to him. He felt around, checking every mark on it, and then he smiled, content at last. Clutching the little doll to his chest, the crying man, and all the shadows vanished.

* * *

><p>"Goodbye!" The children waved as the adventurers returned to the village. There was a light, a long white tunnel, and they all seemed to know instinctively that it was for them.<p>

"It's beautiful," Eric gasped. He turned to Tenya, and held her hand for a moment. "Goodbye, Ten," he said, kissing her on the cheek. "I'll see you again, one day."

"Goodbye, Aerie!" The little one who had given her the gift waved. The elf waved back, and tried to smile but couldn't fully disguise the sadness she felt. That they all felt.

"Goodbye everyone!" The children sang. "Thank you! Goodbye!"

And then they all went away, the tunnel closing behind them.

* * *

><p>Morning came almost unnoticed by the adventurers. The all lounged silently in front of the empty, before the empty street. The sun touching their skins almost felt cold.<p>

"Why is everyone looking so miserable?" Skie asked at last. "We did a good thing, didn't we? We helped them move on."

There was another moment of silence before Aerie, clutching her necklace, answered. "It's just so quiet, now."

Imoen nodded. At least before there had seemed to be some life in this place. Now this whole village was just a husk. "Are you okay, Ten?" She asked.

"No," the priestess responded. It was more than any of them had gotten the previous night.

"Don't worry," Skie said, "you'll meet someone else. Plenty more fish in the sea, as they say."

Tenya lifted and tilted her head. "I don't want a fish to kiss me." The others sniggered. She shook her head. "Don't care, anyway. Boys are all stupid. Next one who comes near me, I'll tear his mouth right off his face."

"That's the spirit!" Imoen applauded. "So, we ready to move on?"

"I guess I am," Aerie sighed and stood up. The others murmured their agreement as well, and they all started walking slowly up the street, away from the rising sun. Imoen went in front of them, turning around so that she was walking backwards before them.

"You know, I'm not sensing much enthusiasm from you guys here…"

"Enthusiasm?" Nalia's eyes narrowed. "I just want to get home. I'm tired."

"I think it's my duty to try and keep morale up round here, so listen up everyone. People… they die. That's what happens. You're born, and then you die."

"Oh, well that's uplifting. Thank you."

"But, listen. There's this bit in the middle which is called life. And sure, sometimes it's tragic, sad and all that. But it's still the only time when you can have fun, so we've got to make the best of it that we caaannn…" she screeched. The others gathered round the well she had fallen into. "Erm… guys?" Imoen called up. "I'm fine, by the way. Um, could you…"

"You know," Nalia mused, and smiled wickedly, "it's moments like this that make it all seem worthwhile."


End file.
